Social Statistics

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singer's blog

Welcome to my web site!

I sincerely hope that this resource will help you in your music career.
Whether you want to get signed or simply want to improve your vocal skills
– here you’ll find answers to many of your questions.

Here you’ll find articles related to the mysteries of music
business, learn how to get a record deal with a
major label, and find out how to create a quality song demo of
your own. You will also find articles on mastering your vocal
skills, get vocal lessons from professionals in this
field, and learn to cope with your voice.

At the top menu you’ll find articles not directly related to singing. Those
are about music business and record deals. The blog beneath is dedicated to
articles on vocal and singing. It will be constantly renewed
by new entries on vocal lessons and other aspects of singer’s life.

MP3 was the first successful audio-compression
format that provided acceptable quality at about one tenth the size of
a WAV or AIF file. It employs lossy compression, which permanently discards data
that it deems audibly indiscernible to human ears. Unlike Zip compression, which
restores a file to its original uncompressed state, data that undergoes lossy
compression is irretrievably lost. But the sound quality in the MP3 compression
scheme is quite good, and the savings in disk space and download time have made
it a hit with the Web crowd.

Quality of recording

What should you consider when choosing a place to record? First of all,
you should ask for a copy of something that was recorded at the
studio. Listen to the overall sonic quality of the recording. If
you have the capability, try to A-B compare the recording to some
professional recording that you want to sound like. To truly
A-B compare, you will need some way to play two CDs at a time, and then switch
back and forth between the studio demo and the professional recording. This will
allow you to compare the two in real time. That way you can hear the differences
much more easily than if you rely on your memory.

You need to know whether a prospective studio provides an
engineer. If so, find out how much experience the studio
engineer has, and more importantly, how much experience he has with that
particular recording equipment or facility. This can be a huge factor in how
long it takes to complete your recording, and in the overall sound. The more
experience the engineer has, the less time it will take to make your recording
and get a final mix.

Once you have decided on a studio, an engineer, and a producer, it boils down
to money. You need to ask some very important questions to get the most for your
money and negotiate a better price. (This information can also help the studio
owner understand how to prevent any miscommunications with his clients.)

If you are like most people, you are working within some kind of a budget.
You need to get as much information as you can from a prospective studio so you
can negotiate the best price, and so there will be no financial surprises when
you get the bill.

The best way to save time and money in the recording studio is to be
prepared – and I mean completely prepared! I have seen so many
bands that just can’t get it together in the studio for one reason or another.
Either they haven’t put much thought into how difficult recording can be, or
they just can’t pull everything together like they can at their live shows.
These bands can waste a lot of studio time trying to come up with parts or
arrangements, or even fixing problems with their equipment, and all of this
wasted time could be prevented. They end up spending way more money
than they should have, leaving less money for manufacturing, advertising, and
promotion of their record. In some cases, they never finish their
record because they can’t afford the costs. Remember, this is a business, and
controlling costs is the key to any business. Some simple steps, such as
thoughtful preproduction and being prepared for as many contingencies as you
can, will go a long way toward controlling costs.

How about teachers who say they teach the „scientific“ method of
singing?

Many teachers in recent history have fallen victim to what has been
erroneously termed „voice science“. You see, any time you associate
something with the word „science“, it automatically assumes an aura of
truth. That's very attractive to both teachers and students, who are anxious to
grab onto anything that offers them hope of understanding what has
unfortunately become a very confusing subject.

First of all, you must be able to discern whether or not a teacher is
primarily a voice technique teacher – one who shows you how to sing,
or whether he/she is primarily a voice coach – one who shows you
what to sing. Of the two types, the voice technique teacher is the most
important, because without the technical ability to sing flexibly and clearly in
all parts of your range, you are very limited to the material you can do.

Should your vocal technique be the same for choral (ensemble) singing
as it is for solo singing?

Yes, you should always use the same vocal technique, whether you sing solo or
in a group. However, choral directors sometimes want you to modify your tone
(change the way you sing) in order to blend with the other singers in the group.
This may be okay for those singers who have developed a solid vocal technique,
but dangerous for those – the majority – who haven't. You blend, all right
– but at what cost? A singer should never compromise correct speech-level
technique.

How do you determine what the tone quality of a singer's voice
should be?

A singer's tone should be determined by his or her own individual vocal
anatomy and not a predetermined ideal held by a teacher – or the student, for
that matter! It should be a blend of the top, middle, and bottom resonance
qualities that results when the singer's larynx remains in a relaxed, stable
position.

What about breathing? Doesn't correct breathing play an important
part in your ability to produce good tone?